This invention relates to the care of the spine and musculature of the human body, and, more particularly, to a passive technique with gravity assist for achieving such care.
Health is of concern to most persons, and recently there has been a great focus on cardiovascular conditioning, weight control, the benefits of proper diet, and other considerations of achieving overall good health. For example, people may attend health clubs, jog, undertake particular types of diets, and many other self-directed activities by way of taking care of themselves. These activities are intended to maintain the body in good health, and also recover from or reduce the effect of problems that may have been experienced.
There has been, however, relatively little attention paid to maintaining the health of the spine and its related structural environs including the ribs and rib attachments. This general lack of attention to the health of the spine is notwithstanding the fact that almost everyone will experience some sort of neck, back, headache, or other problem whose origins can be traced to the spine. Thus, for example, lower back pain often has its origin in problems with the thoracic spine and rib attachments.
The changing life styles of many persons are particularly conducive to a gradual development of problems related to the spine. For example, sitting at a desk or terminal for long periods can develop a condition of muscular fatigue that gradually causes the person's posture to be pulled forward. The body compensates in an effort to retain an erect posture, but the continuing tension may eventually cause permanent deformities and pain that can become so severe as to be disabling, or, at the very least, sufficiently uncomfortable to reduce productivity and creativity.
Complaints about spinal and back pain are among the most common expressions of health concern, but until the pain becomes disabling most persons simply learn to live with the pain or treat it with pain killers that reduce the pain but do nothing about the problem. Once spinal-related problems have reached a severe stage that is too serious to ignore, sufferers can be treated by physical therapists, chiropractors, or surgeons. In many cases some degree of relief is possible, but the relief may be short lived after the treatment is ended. Moreover, many persons have a natural reluctance to seek professional help until the problems again become unbearable.
Although there are many approaches for self-directed conditioning of the heart and other parts of the body, there has been little proposed in the way of conditioning and self-treatment techniques for the spine that a person may use by himself. That is, after the person suffering severe problems has been treated by the health care professional, there is little that he can do to aid himself until the next visit. Also, there is little by way of self-conditioning equipment that the concerned person may use throughout his life to maintain an original state of good spinal health, or use to provide self-treatment for minor problems before they become major problems.
Thus, there is a need for an approach by which an original state of good spinal joint posture and musculature health may be maintained, or by which minor problems may be self-treated before they progress to become disabling and so severe as to require professional treatment. Such an approach must be medically sound in the sense that the treatment is medically beneficial, and desirably is easy and convenient to use so that the person is encouraged to use the approach on a regular basis as part of a conditioning program. The approach desirably would also be inexpensive to implement and maintain. The present invention fulfills this need, and further provides related advantages.